Fail thread - 'doh!'

[mantis]

So I had my first major tank crash back in May....after spending a few months in utter denial of the incident (or my own lack of experience leading to the crash) I decided to stop just staring at the slowly-evaporating 75g tank in my living room and get back on the proverbial saltwater horse.

After reading these and other forums all weekend I found myself wishing there was a place to find other 'oops' moments my fellow hobbyists have gone through, overcome, and (hopefully) learned from. I noticed people mention the idea of a thread like this, but finding none I decided to make it...

The first step in solving problems is admitting you made the mistake. Hopefully this thread can become a location for everyone to learn from others' mistakes and possibly save some heartache, frustration, and time/$$$...maybe it'll catch on...maybe it'll just get lost in the sea of other unread threads...either way I'll go ahead and start if off:

My Fail :doh::
I stocked a 75g saltwater tank with an 8" lionfish, a 4" dogface puffer, a 5" porcupine puffer, a 5" hawaiian black tang, a 3" yellow tang, a 4" spotted grouper, a 12" wolf eel, and an angry little 3", grandpa-faced clownfish. The inevitable overload happend and in a matter of 24 hours I'd lost all but the grouper and eel (which were on their last moments had I not re-tanked them in time)...

Lesson Learned :up::
Research what your tank can support (both types of species and #/size of fish) before stocking it.

 

[usctrack]

I'll join in as I made 2 big mistakes in the last 6 months.

I have 4 tanks going now 2ea 90g, a 40b and. 92g corner.

My first oops was locating my temp probe for my apex in the sump but putting my heater in the display. We had a power disruption and my return pump didn't start back so skimmer and chattering return pump generated enough heat to kick the heater off. I come back from out of town to find my tank at 74 or less. One fish made it! It had very little coral in it and it all survived.

Now the second tank! It was my favorite. Livestock was what I wanted, coral everywhere. My rock tank in the garage is on the same gfi as this tank and a splash or mist o water from the skimmer wet one of the light connections and tripped the gfi. Of course, I was our of town again and get a alert from apex that tank temp is way down. I'm 7 hours from home but get my inlawa o run over. They find gfi and reset but it has been that way for 2 days. Lost all my beautiful fish, some of my coral and still have tank running gfo and carbon to get water back right.

Making sure you expect the unexpected is key. I hope I can help someone avoid the same mistake.

 

[grouper therapy]

Usctrack;686808 wrote: I'll join in as I made 2 big mistakes in the last 6 months.

I have 4 tanks going now 2ea 90g, a 40b and. 92g corner.

My first oops was locating my temp probe for my apex in the sump but putting my heater in the display. We had a power disruption and my return pump didn't start back so skimmer and chattering return pump generated enough heat to kick the heater off. I come back from out of town to find my tank at 74 or less. One fish made it! It had very little coral in it and it all survived.

Now the second tank! It was my favorite. Livestock was what I wanted, coral everywhere. My rock tank in the garage is on the same gfi as this tank and a splash or mist o water from the skimmer wet one of the light connections and tripped the gfi. Of course, I was our of town again and get a alert from apex that tank temp is way down. I'm 7 hours from home but get my inlawa o run over. They find gfi and reset but it has been that way for 2 days. Lost all my beautiful fish, some of my coral and still have tank running gfo and carbon to get water back right.

Making sure you expect the unexpected is key. I hope I can help someone avoid the same mistake.

For sure it will eventually happen

 

[mantis]

Usctrack;686808 wrote: I'll join in as I made 2 big mistakes in the last 6 months.

I have 4 tanks going now 2ea 90g, a 40b and. 92g corner.

My first oops was locating my temp probe for my apex in the sump but putting my heater in the display. We had a power disruption and my return pump didn't start back so skimmer and chattering return pump generated enough heat to kick the heater off. I come back from out of town to find my tank at 74 or less. One fish made it! It had very little coral in it and it all survived.

Now the second tank! It was my favorite. Livestock was what I wanted, coral everywhere. My rock tank in the garage is on the same gfi as this tank and a splash or mist o water from the skimmer wet one of the light connections and tripped the gfi. Of course, I was our of town again and get a alert from apex that tank temp is way down. I'm 7 hours from home but get my inlawa o run over. They find gfi and reset but it has been that way for 2 days. Lost all my beautiful fish, some of my coral and still have tank running gfo and carbon to get water back right.

Making sure you expect the unexpected is key. I hope I can help someone avoid the same mistake.

Great example...I would never have thought of that happening, but it makes me really want to plan ahead of something like that.

Have you (or anyone?) tried setting up a UPS system between your tank and the wall for situations where you might go out of town? Depending on the size they can provide power during an outage for awhile and surge protection to boot...I believe they will automatically search for power and reset themselves so you start using the main power again once it's restored.

 

[usctrack]

I thought about it once but might want to revisit the idea after the last oops.

I have also invested in a large generator in case of an extended outage.

It never fails that when something goes wrong, I'm out of town.

 

[lilrobb]

Filled a new kalkstirrer with kalk powder, and didn't add water...
So when the ATO kicked in, it filled the reactor first and the fresh sludge went right into my tank, a good half gallon of it...
Ever seen pH of 12 in a reef tank???

 

[smallblock]

I started my 72 bow RR up the right way, bleached rock, resealed it, basically went the extra mile to ensure I did it right. At the time I was babysitting my brothers 65 gallon and had some of my livestock in it. So I transfered everything over to my newly cycled 72, but there was this one snail that had some algae on it that I couldn't identify. I didn't have the heart to kill the guy so I plopped him in. Little did I know it was a nuisnace algae called maidnes hair. This stuff is really hard to kill. I would say bryposis is easier to get rid of then this stuff. Its a coarse short bright green macro algae that some people will actually buy for their tanks. It makes your live rock look like you have manicured grass growing on it. So now its a little over a year later and I have begun taking all my rocks out and bleaching them. My plan is to set up a 22 gallon cadlight with maxspect leds up bare bottom kinda like a QT tank for my livestock and coral. I'm gonna transfer everything over and do a short cycle on my 72 and try to eradicate the maidens hair that way. I have 3/4 of my live rock cycling in a tote right now. In about a month and a half I will have the 72 back up and sterile again. No more maidens hair for me.

 

[mantis]

Smallblock;687141 wrote: I started my 72 bow RR up the right way, bleached rock, resealed it, basically went the extra mile to ensure I did it right. At the time I was babysitting my brothers 65 gallon and had some of my livestock in it. So I transfered everything over to my newly cycled 72, but there was this one snail that had some algae on it that I couldn't identify. I didn't have the heart to kill the guy so I plopped him in. Little did I know it was a nuisnace algae called maidnes hair. This stuff is really hard to kill. I would say bryposis is easier to get rid of then this stuff. Its a coarse short bright green macro algae that some people will actually buy for their tanks. It makes your live rock look like you have manicured grass growing on it. So now its a little over a year later and I have begun taking all my rocks out and bleaching them. My plan is to set up a 22 gallon cadlight with maxspect leds up bare bottom kinda like a QT tank for my livestock and coral. I'm gonna transfer everything over and do a short cycle on my 72 and try to eradicate the maidens hair that way. I have 3/4 of my live rock cycling in a tote right now. In about a month and a half I will have the 72 back up and sterile again. No more maidens hair for me.

That little snail still going strong?

 

[smallblock]

sure is he is HUGE now and was huge then, biggest snail I've ever seen

 

[peaches7412]

Smallblock;687141 wrote: I started my 72 bow RR up the right way, bleached rock, resealed it, basically went the extra mile to ensure I did it right. At the time I was babysitting my brothers 65 gallon and had some of my livestock in it. So I transfered everything over to my newly cycled 72, but there was this one snail that had some algae on it that I couldn't identify. I didn't have the heart to kill the guy so I plopped him in. Little did I know it was a nuisnace algae called maidnes hair. This stuff is really hard to kill. I would say bryposis is easier to get rid of then this stuff. Its a coarse short bright green macro algae that some people will actually buy for their tanks. It makes your live rock look like you have manicured grass growing on it. So now its a little over a year later and I have begun taking all my rocks out and bleaching them. My plan is to set up a 22 gallon cadlight with maxspect leds up bare bottom kinda like a QT tank for my livestock and coral. I'm gonna transfer everything over and do a short cycle on my 72 and try to eradicate the maidens hair that way. I have 3/4 of my live rock cycling in a tote right now. In about a month and a half I will have the 72 back up and sterile again. No more maidens hair for me.

That might have been the green algae I had(Or mine was just regular hair algae, don't really know) What ever it was though took over my 46g. It was everywhere:rocks, sand, corals, snails, pump intakes, etc). Would not die, grew back in few days if I took 90% of it out, and nothing would really eat it(the only guy that did was a sea hare, but then he died from my heater breaking, bringing the tank to 68). Finally decided to take the tank down, and move the fish(2 clowns) into a new biocube (after I accimilated them, I dipped them in 2 different cups of my tank water to make sure that there would be no algae spores somehow on there scales). The corals(torch,candy cane, and mushroom rock) are still in my holding tank, with 2 narsisus snails, but they still have that green algae on them so I am afraid to add them to my tank still. :sad: Worst tank incident I have ever had, but still addicted to reefing.

 

[mantis]

Smallblock;687152 wrote: sure is he is HUGE now and was huge then, biggest snail I've ever seen

Well at least your decision to save the 'little' guy wasn't for naught then...cherish him for all the annoyance he's put you through! lol

 

[jtars10]

Maybe snail soup is in order

 

[mantis]

jtars10;687194 wrote: Maybe snail soup is in order

A little escargot eh?